BoatBanter.com - Shriners' Hospitals: Another Victim of GOP, Brokerage House Greed

On Apr 2, 6:38*am, HK wrote:
Shreveport Shriners Hospital could close

By Melody Brumble

Shriners Hospital for Children in Shreveport — the first in the nation
to open — may close.

The 89-year-old children's health center in the 3100 block of Samford
Avenue is among six that could shut because of budget woes at the
national level. An endowment that supports the network of 22 Shriners
hospitals has lost value, a casualty of the declining stock market. The
hospitals offer free care to children and teens.

The Shreveport center focuses on pediatric orthopedics, including
amputations, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis and hand deformities. Other
locations specialize in burn injuries and spinal cord injury rehabilitation.

Since opening in 1922, the Shreveport hospital has provided treatment to
more than 55,000 children from around the world.

Doctors perform more than 600 surgeries, and the hospital logs about
10,000 outpatient clinic visits each year, said Christian Berg, the
local Shriners Hospital spokesman.

The hospital also offers a training ground for graduates from LSU School
of Medicine in Shreveport. Residents training in pediatrics, orthopedics
and urology have rotated through Shriners Hospital as an elective to
residencies at LSU Hospital, said Derek Daniel, an LSU Health Sciences
Center spokesman.

"In terms of training, residents would still be able to train here," he
said. "But it's like someone said about Shriners, 'They were the first
neighbor on the block. Gosh, you hate to see a neighbor leave.'"

The national Shriners Board of Trustees drafted the closing proposal
last week after looking at everything from the potential to recruit
doctors to daily expenses for each location, said Ralph Semb, chairman
of the national board. "It was one of the most emotional meetings I've
been through."

About 1,250 Shriners from throughout the country will vote on the
proposal during the fraternal organization's yearly meeting July 5-7. A
two-thirds vote is required to close a hospital.

Semb said the same group instructed trustees three years ago to try to
increase the $8.5 billion hospital endowment to $14 billion. When the
stock market took a nose dive, however, the investments declined and, at
one point, fell below $5 billion this month, he said.

Income from the endowment also has dropped, Semb said, and the
organization faces a shortfall between projected income, donations and
an estimated $850 million operating budget.

The organization is considering accepting private insurance, Medicare
and Medicaid, but that would take time and more money to start, Semb
said. "We have to try to learn to retrofit the system."

Some groups in Greenville, S.C., and Springfield, Mass., are exploring
partnerships with other health care groups to stay open.
--
Palin & Bachmann in 2012 -
All Stupidity All the Time

Please explain just how the "GOP" had anything to do with it.